Many firms and recruiters insist on including at least one woman in their candidate shortlists. But is one enough?
At Godliman, our Godliman Rule requires at least two women, or diversity candidates, on every shortlist. Initially, we thought one would suffice, given that women comprise c.25–30% of the Asset Management industry. We have since concluded that one is not enough.
In ‘The Authority Gap’, Mary Ann Sieghart argues that having only one woman on a shortlist reinforces the notion that men are the default choice and that hiring a woman is a risk. Adding just one more woman, she argues, shifts that dynamic considerably.
A 2016 Harvard Business Review article titled ‘If there’s only one woman in your candidate pool, there’s statistically no chance she’ll be hired’ supports this directly. It argues that unconscious bias towards preserving the status quo, combined with a candidate pool that is predominantly male, can lead decision-makers to favour more men.
The Harvard Business Review team conducted three studies. The first found that when most finalists were white, participants tended to recommend a white candidate; when most were Black, they recommended a Black candidate. The second focused on gender and produced the same pattern: when two of three finalists were men, participants recommended hiring a man; when two of three were women, they recommended a woman.
The third study tested the specific effect of adding a second woman to the finalist pool. The result was notable: the odds of hiring a woman were 79.14 times greater when at least two women were included. When only one woman appeared among four finalists, her odds of being hired were, statistically, zero.
Numbers, however, are only part of the picture. When there is only one woman on a shortlist, she risks being perceived as a token inclusion rather than a serious contender, a product of unconscious bias rather than merit. A reasonable gender balance shifts the focus from representation to qualification and experience. The goal is to ensure women are assessed on equal terms, with the final decision grounded in individual merit. That is the principle behind the importance of inclusion more broadly, and behind our Godliman Rule specifically.
For more advice on structuring your hiring process to support inclusive and effective diversity hiring, please contact us
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